On June, 16 2012, I went to hear Medea Benjamin, one of the founders of Codepink, speak about drones in Los Angeles. I heard songs of peace thanks to Jacqueline Fuentes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR1VvcDepGM , got Medea’s book ‘Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control’ and later heard her talking to Robert Scheer at Ocean Park Church about drones and what they really do. It was all inspiring and Medea is a force for good who has a message of peace and love and that means not allowing hate and destruction to drown out love and the value of life. Bless her fearless and well-informed nature.

I found the word Guernica buzzing around in my head at the end of the night even though it hadn’t been mentioned and that was bugging me. And then bugs joined the buzz and then bug splatter and that was driving me mad so I tried to make sense of it.

Guernica was in my head. That is the famous painting by Picasso and the Basque town that was blasted to pieces from above by Hitler and Mussolini’s planes in the first such mechanized aerial attack. Picasso painted the scenes of horror and the way innocent people were turned into body parts. He saw it as a very twisted turn in the horror of warfare. He was right. And now, somehow, we talk calmly of drones. How faulty is our view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHJpOVrJVgE

Where did the bugs come in? Bugs in the system hide and distort the truth. Guernica has been revamped and given a makeover. It is reenacted in many countries everyday as American drones kill from on high. The American media covers the truth up. Americans don’t get to see graphic images of horror. The media does NOT do precisely what it is designed to do: expose the truth. The bugs have completely disabled our media. What we are left with is an infected abomination.

There are flying bugs above scaring, maiming, and tearing people apart in foreign lands. There are viral bugs of deception tearing America apart from within. And all this is bugging the hell out of me.

And bug splatter? The lies drone out democracy and then we and America become bug splatter. That drone of deception drives America to a dark place. Bugs have taken over the political system, the media, and the military. We and all we hold dear have been squashed like bug splatter. Legalized bribery, corporate rule, $$$ as our guide and morality demonized and defiled: these are the bugs that have taken over America. By the way, bug splatter is what soldiers call the bits of bodies left after a drone attack.

Bug #1: The misinformation bug has infected all the main means of communication and their systems. We do not have journalism in the mainstream media, the way to cure that has been taken out, and Americans are ignorant of the real news. Truth is gone. Lies drone so loud we cannot hear the truth. Ignorance prevents outrage and keeps the public submissive. Patriotism, brainwashing and the mass media deliver the poison of lies.

Bug #2: The fear bug has infected the country and it is powered by the first bug and the new main industry of this land, arms production. Arms should scare people because they kill people but the #1 bug makes Americans think that they are good because they only kill bad guys. Bug #2 has infiltrated the media and replaced truth with fear. Those who protest will be met with a fearsomely armed militarized police. The fear bug enables the infiltration of the ‘justice’ system and now our rights are gone. Fear drones so strong it disables bravery. We fear jail, deportation, detention without trial. We feel powerless. Intimidation is the poison. We are ruled by fear.

Bug #3: The kill bug. This bug kills all we hold sacred: human rights, the constitution, democracy, a sense of justice and empathy, people… It has infected American culture and made people want to kill and to believe that to do so it their duty and is glorious. It desensitizes teens and uses their gaming skills to get bug splatter (their term for the bits of flesh that remain when a drone has ‘taken out’ a target). This kills emotion and humanity and replaces it with a sick alter world where people want to destroy others for the sake of using the tools of destruction.

The evidence of American military atrocities is the greatest recruitment tool for America’s enemies. The more drone strikes there are, the more enemies it creates. Most Americans do not get to see images like these and believe that drones only kill “bad guys.”

America’s government is fueled by greed and legalized bribery and the political system no longer serves the people but rather those who cause the maximum amount of hurt to the people. Lobbying and corporate control deliver this poison that puts $$$ before people.

Drones murder hundreds of innocent civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. We have to stop the madness. We need new people in charge to clean up Washington. But, even if we get a dream team and rally behind it to get rid of the corrupt leaders, is it even possible to clean out such a deadly infection that is rotten to the core?

The destruction of Guernica destroyed a town and blew people apart. The destruction of America has blown apart the lives of good people at home and abroad, our freedoms, our rights, and respect for doing good.

If anyone can make a difference, the women of Code Pink can. Medea is not only a fearless leader, she is a brilliant researcher and writer. I am inspired by her words and her book and her actions. I can see a better future but only with utter determination and fearlessness and an end to the war powers act and corporate America. I propose we start with None of the Above for the election and let’s get our dream team.

Thanks, Medea, for all you do. Now I know you are a fan of Dennis Kucinich. Do you think he is ready for a much bigger challenge? Let’s make a list of the best and get them elected. They deserve it and so does America.